Samuel Berger Posted September 23, 2017 Posted September 23, 2017 Hi all, As of a few years I have lost touch with film hobbyist Paul Cotto who was working on his own perforator for Super 8. It is obvious that the project is not going to move forward, as this was over a decade ago. I'm very interested in building my own or getting one built somewhere. The idea is to slit and perforate 35mm film and load it into Single-8 and Super 8 cartridges. But before I try to reinvent the wheel I would like to know if anyone else on these forums has attempted this before. I can't imagine it being an agonizing brain twister, I mean, it's just a machine that punches a sequence of holes into film.
Premium Member Simon Wyss Posted September 23, 2017 Premium Member Posted September 23, 2017 You know nothing about film perforators. The grinding of one of the punch legs for a straight-sided hole with rounded corners involves 60 operation steps. The fit between punch and die is according to IT 2, i. e. ± 0,0012 mm or ± 0.0000472". Of course, there is a trick to achieve that in useful time but one needs the proper installation. You speak of several thousand $$$$ cost for a tool set.
Samuel Berger Posted September 23, 2017 Author Posted September 23, 2017 You know nothing about film perforators. That is ABSOLUTELY TRUE. But...that doesn't keep me from hiring someone who does. ;-) Or at least thinking about it. I think Paul paid $5000 for the dies. But I saw that in Kiev the other day some guy converted a sewing machine into a film perforator. I guess the machine part of the deal must be very simple.
Premium Member Simon Wyss Posted September 23, 2017 Premium Member Posted September 23, 2017 Wittner in Germany has perforators ready for Double-Super 8. Keep in mind that all Super-8 and Single-8 film begins as 16mm strips fed into DS-8 perforators. The slitting comes afterwards.
Andries Molenaar Posted September 24, 2017 Posted September 24, 2017 Cotto had dies and punchers. It was all abandoned at a whimp. Wittner is slimming down considerablly. I would estimate they will not be perforating much after they reopen (if at all). May be there wil be sell off after they eject the lot or after they seize at all.
Maik Lobborn Posted September 26, 2017 Posted September 26, 2017 Wittner has sold off many machines when they did close their Ammersbek plant in April or May. Some of them did not find a buyer and were scrapped. I visited them in March and decided to obtain a small slitter (35mm to 2 x 16mm), a R8 perforator, a 16mm perforator and a DS8/Super 8 perforator. Those machines where from their spare part stock (they called it scrap heap) - so they need to be cleaned, lubricated etc. If I find the time I will refurbish them to look beautifully like their "good" machines, which look splendid, like new. (BTW they did move all those "like new" machines to their new location in the south of Germany). The ones I did obtain are also much smaller compared to their production machines, which is a big advantage for me as I am a private person and not a company and my space is very limited. If you look at the pictures you will see that a lot of work is ahead to make them look and work like new. But the most important thing is they included excellent perforating tools so I can do good quality after the machines are up and running. I will be able to perforate Regular 8 / Double 8, DS8, Super 8, 16mm one row and double perf then. But there is a looong way to go as not only my space but also my time is very limited unfortunately. Nice project for long evenings in the winter time :) 2
Samuel Berger Posted September 29, 2017 Author Posted September 29, 2017 Maik, do you have more pictures of the perforator? I miss out on a lot by not being Euro.
Stefan Fischer Posted November 6, 2017 Posted November 6, 2017 If you dont find the time to repair the machines and want to sell them, please let me know. BR Stefan
Scott Smith Posted October 30, 2018 Posted October 30, 2018 Maik: I am working on a project that requires some Super 8m film to be slit and perforated, and would be most interested in what you have. --Scott Smith
Premium Member Will Montgomery Posted October 30, 2018 Premium Member Posted October 30, 2018 I have a DS8 Scoopic that's been sitting unused for many years. It would be nice to get some new DS8 stock on 100' reels. Anyone have that available these days?
Karel Rysan Posted December 18, 2018 Posted December 18, 2018 I have a DS8 Scoopic that's been sitting unused for many years. It would be nice to get some new DS8 stock on 100' reels. Anyone have that available these days? https://www.macodirect.de/en/film/movie-films-super-8-to-35mm/1719/fomapan-r-100-double-super-8mm-film-on-30.5m-spool?c=616
Mark Dunn Posted December 18, 2018 Posted December 18, 2018 https://www.macodirect.de/en/film/movie-films-super-8-to-35mm/1719/fomapan-r-100-double-super-8mm-film-on-30.5m-spool?c=616 That's great value in the EU, but maybe a bit pricey for Texas. I'd be tempted if I had the equipment, it's been a long time since you could buy 50' of Super-8 for £8.
John Salim Posted December 18, 2018 Posted December 18, 2018 DS8 available from ON8MIL ( UK ) .... https://www.on8mil.com/product-category/8mm-film-packages/ds8_films/ John S :rolleyes:
Premium Member Will Montgomery Posted December 18, 2018 Premium Member Posted December 18, 2018 DS8 available from ON8MIL ( UK ) .... https://www.on8mil.com/product-category/8mm-film-packages/ds8_films/ John S :rolleyes: They added 100' rolls to the site at my request and I ordered from them last week, came quickly and efficiently; all the way to Texas from Great Britain. Haven't shot it yet but looking forward to it!
Karel Rysan Posted December 19, 2018 Posted December 19, 2018 Not yet, but will do some soon. Hello Mike, any news on the slitting - perforating 16-DS8 films, please? Thank you, Karel
Premium Member Will Montgomery Posted December 19, 2018 Premium Member Posted December 19, 2018 175 pounds for color :blink: Seems expensive until you think that it's equivalent to 4 rolls of Ektachrome 100D which is going for $48 each at B&H photo in NYC. Although equivalent isn't probably the right word since it's an older stock...
Mark Dunn Posted December 19, 2018 Posted December 19, 2018 Seems expensive until you think that it's equivalent to 4 rolls of Ektachrome 100D which is going for $48 each at B&H photo in NYC. Although equivalent isn't probably the right word since it's an older stock... Agfa RSX50 must be cracking on for 15 years old now.
Maik Lobborn Posted November 11, 2023 Posted November 11, 2023 Hi, I am sorry for the late reply. I did not look into here for quite a while. Haven’t found the time to refurbish those machines. Finally gave them back to Wittners some years ago. Don‘t know if they are still there. But I did not want to scrap them - so bringing them back to „mothership“ was (for me) the logical conclusion. All the best, Maik
Premium Member Kamran Pakseresht Posted November 11, 2023 Premium Member Posted November 11, 2023 For anyone interested - I did find a video of someone who modified a sewing machine to perforate super 8 film:
Premium Member Okto Simaia Posted May 7, 2024 Premium Member Posted May 7, 2024 On 11/11/2023 at 7:45 AM, Kamran Pakseresht said: For anyone interested - I did find a video of someone who modified a sewing machine to perforate super 8 film: ...and then at the end he shoots the demo reel handheld so we can't tell anything about the results. 😅
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